iPhone 5 demand is fine, say investors and surveyors

jassim ahmedJanuary 15, 2013

Over the past few days, there have been many rumors about the performance of Apple’s newest iPhone, the iPhone 5. These rumors were launched by reports of Apple cutting screen orders from their suppliers, which many took as a sign that iPhone 5 demand was slipping, so Apple was scaling back. These fears were met with a large drop in Apple’s stock, which has now hit well below 500.

However, this notion that the iPhone 5 is not doing so well has started facing some opposition. According to Shaw Wu from Sterne Agee, the demand for the new iPhone remains “robust” so there is nothing to fear in terms of dwindling desire for the shiny device. Instead, Wu suggests that Apple overestimated orders for screens due to anticipating that the parts would be hard to produce, and scaled back orders when they were easier to fulfill than expected.

Additionally, Apple is constantly shifting suppliers around, so another explanation for the perceived drop in screen orders is that one supplier that got the short end of the stick decided to blab to the press.

To further these claims, BusinessInsider‘s chart of the day presents a graph of smartphone buyers who plan to purchase and iPhone in the next 3 months:

This data comes from ChangeWave, who surveyed over 4,000 prospective smartphone buyers about their intentions. According to this graph, iPhone demand is experiencing an expected lull, which happens the winter after every launch. Clearly, there is nothing to worry about just yet.

Of course, none of this is as conclusive as a statement from Apple, so the full story will be revealed at Apple’s Q1 earnings call next Wednesday at 2:00 PM PST.